Cargo Storage Device

ABSTRACT

A cargo storage device, comprising lift parts ( 4 ) and ( 4 ′) for raising in which a plurality of load carrying horizontal frames ( 6, . . .  ) and ( 6′, . . .  ) are disposed at roughly equal intervals, a lift part ( 5 ) for lowering formed adjacent to and parallel with the lift parts for raising, and upright columnar support members ( 7 ) and ( 7 ′) horizontally swingably supporting the horizontal frames ( 6, . . .  ) and ( 6′, . . .  ) between these lift parts which are stored in a vertically installed housing ( 1 ). The support members ( 7 ) and ( 7 ′) comprise movable parts formed by stacking, independently of each other, a plurality of cylindrical units swingable by 180° horizontally and fixed parts having support shaft bodies supporting the cylindrical units and forming a rotating axis for swinging the support members horizontally. The horizontal frames ( 6, . . .  ) and ( 6′, . . .  ) are mounted on the movable parts through curved installation members to reduce a load between the load carrying horizontal frames and the support members so as to eliminate the possibility of trouble.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a unit for housing a cargo such asvehicles including passenger cars and trucks as well as freight carrierssuch as forklifts and handcarts, and particularly relates to a parkingtower.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY

In recent years, in order to save the occupied areas of parking lots,multistory parking spaces have been installed, and a parking tower isone of them.

The mainstream parking towers have been constituted of a housing capableof housing a number of vehicles, and a base stand movable up and down.They transport a vehicle received in the base stand at an entrance onthe ground to a housing rack of the housing so as to house it therein,and discharge the vehicle to the exit on the ground from the housingrack in the reverse steps as necessary.

However, such a type of parking tower has to transfer a vehicle to apredetermined housing rack from the entrance when housing the vehicle,and has to transfer a vehicle to the exit from the housing rack whendischarging it, and therefore, it takes time. In addition, since theorientation of the vehicle is the same when the vehicle is received andwhen it is discharged, the vehicle has to be reversed either whenreceived or when discharged, and therefore, there is the disadvantagethat the operation takes too much time and labor.

In order to overcome such a disadvantage, the present inventor haspreviously proposed a cargo housing unit for vertically holding aplurality of cargo housing bodies at columns which are verticallyprovided, characterized by including reversing means which laterallyrotates a cargo housing body arbitrarily taken out from a row of aplurality of vertically housed housing bodies to reverse theirorientations, endless drive means which is disposed in the verticaldirection along the above-described columns, provided with housing bodyholding parts for holding the above-described reversed cargo housingbody at predetermined spaces, and causes the cargo housing body to fallby the tare weight in a state holding the cargo housing body, andbraking means which converts a rotational force of the above-describedendless drive means into accumulation energy and applies a braking forceto the endless drive means (JP3276695B).

FIG. 8 is a front view of this unit, FIG. 9 is a perspective view of amain part of this unit, and FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of thecargo housing body holding part of this unit.

The unit vertically houses a plurality of vehicles C, . . . and includesa pair of columns 101,101′ provided side by side on the ground to beopposed to each other, a plurality of vehicle mounting bases 102, . . .,102′, . . . as cargo housing bodies rising and lowering along thecolumns 101,101′, a raising drive mechanism 103 which raises the vehiclemounting bases 102,102′, . . . , a chain 104 as endless drive means, abraking mechanism 105 as braking means which converts the rotationalforce of the chain 104 into accumulation energy and applies a brakingforce to the chain 104, and a frame 106 provided with an exit and anentrance of the vehicle at the same side.

A pair of columns 101,101′ are vertically provided at a distance longerthan the width of each of the vehicle mounting bases 102,102′ from eachother, and the respective columns 101,101′ are formed by cylindricalouter columns 107,107′, and cylindrical inner columns 108,108′ which arelocated at the inner sides of the outer columns 107,107′, and arevertically provided with respective base portions buried under theground.

When the vehicle C is received into the predetermined vehicle mountingbase 102 from the entrance of the cargo housing unit, and subsequently,the operation part switch is turned on, a power motor 109 of the raisingdrive mechanism is driven, a chain 112 wound on a chain wheel 111 startsto run via a rotary shaft 110, and the vehicle mounting base 102 ispushed upward along a lifting vertical groove 114 of the column 101 bythe action of a lift plate 113, as a result of which, a stopper 115 ispushed to open.

Subsequently, when the vehicle mounting base 102 reaches an upper floorand the raising drive mechanism is stopped by the operation switch, abearing 116 of the vehicle mounting base 102 becomes engaged with astopper 115 at a communication part 117 a of an inclined groove 117 ofthat floor. At this time, since the holding mechanism works to inhibitrotation of the vehicle mounting base 102, the vehicle C stops at thisfloor and is housed.

Next, in order to discharge the thus housed vehicle C, a power supply isconnected to a cell motor (not shown) of the holding mechanism mountedto a predetermined vehicle mounting base 102 by the operation switch torotate the cell motor. Thereby, an arm (not shown) moves to the cellmotor side, the holding mechanism is released, the bearing 116 of thevehicle mounting base 102 rolls down on a tip end surface 115 b of theinclined stopper 115 by the tare weight of the vehicle C and the vehiclemounting base 102, and is received in the inclined groove 117. Namely,the bearing 116 rolls down along the inclined groove 117, and isreceived in a vertical groove for falling which is located on asubstantial back side of the lifting vertical groove. Thereby, thevehicle mounting base 102 on which the vehicle C is mounted rotates bysubstantially 180° along the periphery of the column 101, and therefore,the vehicle C is disposed to be oriented with its front facing the exit.

Next, with the raising and lowering plate of the vehicle mounting base102 engaged with and held by a hook part 118 of the chain 112, thevehicle mounting base 102 with the vehicle C mounted thereon falls bythe tare weight, and reaches the lowest floor. On this occasion, thefalling state is detected stepwise by a sensor 119, and the vehiclemounting base 102 is braked stepwise by an electromagnetic clutch linkedto the sensor 119, and quietly gets down on the ground enabling thevehicle C to be discharged with its front facing forward.

The cargo housing unit has the advantages of being capable of housing avehicle in a short time and discharging the vehicle in a short time, andhaving no need to carrying in and out a vehicle by reversing it, butrotation of the vehicle and the vehicle mounting base has to beperformed by only one arm. Therefore, the total mass of the vehiclemounting base and the vehicle mounted thereon is exerted on the arm basepart, which causes the risk of breakage, and the rotation is performedby rolling into the inclined groove, which brings about the disadvantageto readily cause breaking.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been completed under such circumstances andhas an object to provide a cargo housing unit which is improved toreduce the load between cargo-mounting horizontal base stands andsupporting members, so as to be freed from the troubles due to failure.

As a result of the repeated studies on enhancement of the function ofthe cargo housing unit, the present inventor has found out that asupport column of a cargo-mounting horizontal base stand is constructedof a combination of a stationary part and a rotary part, and mounting ofthe horizontal base stand to the support column is performed with acylindrical unit fixed via a mounting member having an arc-wise crosssection, thereby strengthening a mounting portion of the horizontal basestand, and mounting can be made by horizontal translation to reduce theburden of the mass, whereby the above-described object can be achieved,and the inventor has completed the present invention based on thisknowledge.

Namely, the present invention provides a cargo housing unitcharacterized in that, in a cargo housing unit comprising, within anupright housing, a lift part for raising having a plurality ofcargo-mounting horizontal base stands disposed at approximately uniformdistances, a lift part for lowering adjacent thereto keeping parallelismtherewith and upright columnar supporting members which support theaforementioned horizontal base stands in a horizontally rotatablefashion between the two parts, the aforementioned supporting members areformed of a mobile part consisting of a plurality of cylindrical unitsstacked each independently from the others in a rotatable fashion by 180degrees within a horizontal plane and a stationary part consisting of asupporting axial body which supports each of the cylindrical units andserves as the axis of rotation when the same is under rotation within ahorizontal plane, the aforementioned horizontal base stand beingconnected to the aforementioned mobile part with intervention of aconnection member having a curved surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a front view of a parking tower of one example of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the ground floor of the parking tower in FIG.1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of an upright supporting column inthe parking tower in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a cylindrical unit in the parkingtower in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross sectional view of a cylindrical unit in theparking tower in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a flange-formed plate in the parking tower inFIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory illustration of the mechanism performing thehorizontal rotating movement by a single motor in the parking tower inFIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a conventional cargo housing unit.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a main part of the cargo housing unit inFIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a cargo housing body holding partof the cargo housing unit in FIG. 8.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Next, with reference to the attached drawings, the best mode forcarrying out the present invention will be described for a parking towerhaving a vehicle as a cargo as an example.

FIG. 1 is a front view with the front surface cut off to show aninternal structure of a parking tower, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of theground floor of the same parking tower.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the parking tower consists of an above-groundpart A and an underground part B. The above-ground part A has a housing1 constituting an entire superstructure, and the front face of theground floor of this housing 1 is opened to form entrances 2,2′ and anexit 3.

The above-ground part A is divided into two lift parts 4,4′ for raising,and one lift part 5 for lowering, and the lift parts 4,4′ for raisingare provided with a plurality of vehicle mounting bases or, namely,cargo-mounting horizontal base stands 6, . . . 6′, . . . disposed atapproximately uniform distances in the vertical direction for housing avehicle C, and two upright columns or, namely, upright columnarsupporting members 7,7′ for supporting them.

Meanwhile, in the underground part B, the drive mechanism for raisingthe vehicle mounting bases 6, . . . 6′, . . . of the above-describedlift parts 4,4′ for raising, for example, hydraulic cylinders 8,8′ and acontrol mechanism 10 which converts kinetic energy into electric energyand accumulates the electric energy, and applies a buffering force forbraking at the time of lowering predetermined vehicle mounting bases6,6′ via a chain 9 provided at the lift part 5 for lowering are housed.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing one example of the structureof the above-described upright supporting column 7 which is constructedby a stationary part constituted of a stationary axial body 11 and amobile part constituted of a plurality of cylindrical units 12, . . .which are mounted around it to be risible and horizontally rotatable by180°. Flange-formed plates 13, . . . for temporarily supporting theadjacent cylindrical units 12 directly over them, and stoppers 14, . . .are fixedly provided at the stationary axial body 11, and the respectivecylindrical units 12, . . . are provided with drive motors 15, . . . forrotating for performing the horizontal rotational movement, and gears15′, . . . for rotating which are meshed with drive shaft gears thereof.

Next, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an internal structure ofthe individual cylindrical unit 12, and FIG. 5 is a vertical sectionalview. The cylindrical unit 12 is constructed of an outer cylinder 16,two pairs of channels with C-shaped sections (hereinafter, abbreviatedas C-shaped channels) 17 and 18, and 17′ and 18′ which are fixed to theouter cylinder 16, and an outer cylinder receiving plate 19 which isfitted into one pair of them, and mounted in an upwardly movable fashionwith stability.

The above-described outer cylinder receiving plate 19 is asemi-cylindrical curved plate, has the vehicle mounting base 6integrally fixed to its lower portion, is inserted into openings 17 aand 18 a of the C-shaped channels 17 and 18, and is kept in a stable andrisible state by four pairs of parallel double rollers 20, . . . andeight vertical rollers 21, . . . mounted to the outer cylinder receivingplate 19.

A stopper pushing-up member 22 which is provided at the outer cylinder16, when the outer cylinder receiving plate 19 rises, pushes from belowthe stopper 14, which is always biased with a spring so that its upperportion opens outward with a support point 14 a as a center, to recessits upper end portion, which is protruded outward, to inside, so that itdoes not interfere with rising of the outer cylinder receiving plate 19.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the flange-formed plate 13 fixedly provided atthe stationary supporting column 11 for supporting the cylindrical unit12. The flange-formed plate 13 is provided with notch portions 13 a,13a′ and 13 b,13 b′ corresponding to the C-shaped channels 17,18 and17′,18′ and 13 b,13 b′ are notched deeper than 13 a,13 a′ by the amountrequired for giving a space for allowing it to pass the upper endportion of the stopper 14 which is recessed inward by the stopperpushing-up member 22.

When a vehicle is housed in the parking tower constructed as above, thevehicle is mounted on the vehicle mounting base 6 on the ground floor inFIG. 1 by causing the vehicle to proceed in the direction as it faces,namely, toward the back of the housing space, and thereafter, the liftpart 4 for raising is started to operate by pressing a switch on acontrol panel (not shown) provided in the vicinity of the entrance ofthe parking tower. By this operation, the pushing-up member 22 slidesupward by the hydraulic cylinder 8, and the stopper 14 is pulled intothe stopper passing notch portions 13 b,13 b′ of the flange-formed plate13 against the spring by which it is biased, and the outer cylinderreceiving plates 19, . . . rise with the vehicle mounting bases 6without an obstacle. Rising of the outer cylinder receiving plates 19, .. . continues in sequence to the position where the vehicle mountingbase is not present because it moves to the lift for lowering from thelift for raising, for example, the position of the fourth floor in FIG.1, and when it reaches the position, it automatically stops to finishthe housing operation.

Next, when the vehicle housed in the parking tower is discharged, acommand is sent to the floor in which the vehicle to be discharged ishoused by pressing the switch of the above-described control panel, thedrive motor 15 for rotating of that floor is actuated to starthorizontal rotation of the cylindrical unit 12 in which thepredetermined vehicle mounting base 6 is fixedly provided via the gear15′ for rotation.

The horizontal rotation of the cylindrical unit 12 is performed in thestate in which it is supported on the flange-formed plate 13 with onlythe inner roller, in contact with the flange-formed plate 13, of theparallel double roller 20, and the outer roller is not supported, andtherefore, when it rotates by 180 degrees and reaches the position ofthe lift part 5 for lowering, the outer cylinder receiving plate 19 isoutside the support range of the stopper 14, whereby the support isreleased, and it falls by the tare weight along the C-shaped channel forlowering while causing the chain 9 engaged with it to performcirculatory rotation. The falling state is detected by a sensor (notshown) with time, and stepwise braking is performed for the falling byan electromagnetic clutch actuating in response to the detection signalof the sensor, braking is performed by a load occurring to a generator23 for rotation of the chain 9, and the falling gradually stops by abuffering action.

Further, the chain 9 moves from above to below with the tare weightfalling of the vehicle mounting base 6 and this movement rotates a chainwheel (not shown) connected to gears 24,25 to actuate the generator 23directly connected to the chain wheel, whereby kinetic energy of fallingis converted into electric energy which can be accumulated in ancapacitor 26. The thus accumulated electric energy is fed back as thepower for the drive motors 15, . . . for horizontal rotation and theothers.

In this manner, the vehicle on the vehicle mounting base 6 which reachesthe ground floor is oriented to face forward with respect to the exit,and therefore, it can go out by causing it to proceed as it faces.Accordingly, it is not necessary to reverse the vehicle carefully withone's nerves overstrained as in the case of the conventional towerparking, along with saving of time.

The vehicle mounting base 6 on the ground floor after the vehicle leftit rotates around the supporting column in the reverse direction fromthe direction on the other floors by the drive motor and the reversegear, and moves to the first floor of the lift part for raising. When,for example, the third floor of the lift part for raising is vacant, andthe vehicle mounting base in the vacant space on the ground floor ispushed up to the second floor by the hydraulic cylinder 8, the vehiclemounting base on the second floor is pushed up to the third floor in alinkage motion with this, and the vacant space is automatically filled.

In the above parking tower, the horizontal rotating movement of thevehicle mounting base 6 of each of the cylindrical units is performed bythe drive motor 15 for horizontal rotation individually provided at eachof the units, but it can be performed by using a single drive motor incommon.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing one example of the mechanism whichallows the respective cylindrical units to perform the horizontalrotating movement by using such a single drive motor whereincodirectional rotary gear pairs 27, . . . are placed on each of thecylindrical units 12, . . . instead of drive motors, an input gear 27 aof each of the gear pairs is connected to a drive shaft 29 of a drivemotor 28 by each of magnet connectors 30, . . . and, by meshing it withthe output gear 27 b on the cylindrical unit on the required floor, thecylindrical unit is caused to perform the horizontal rotating movement.

In the case of using this mechanism, only horizontal rotation on theground floor is preferably performed in the reverse direction from thehorizontal rotation on the other floors via the reverse gear.

In the cargo housing unit of the present invention, electric energygenerated in the other generating mechanism can be used as the energynecessary for buffering lowering speed of the lift part for lowering.

The present invention is described thus far with the example of theparking tower in the case where cargoes are vehicles, but the presentinvention can be used for housing a wide variety of cargoes such asfurniture, machines, instruments, foodstuffs and the like.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the present invention, in the case of being used as, forexample, a parking tower, a.discharging operation can be performed byutilizing falling by the tare weight of the horizontal base stand with avehicle mounted thereon, and therefore, it can be performed in a shorttime. Even if the vehicle to be carried in is housed in the proceedingdirection as such, it is reversed in the direction facing the exit whenit is discharged, and therefore, time for carrying in and out can beshortened. In addition, the rotational energy of the chain at the timeof falling is converted into electric energy, and can be utilized as apower source of the motor, and therefore, there is provided theadvantage of being capable of saving energy cost. Accordingly, thepresent invention is useful as the unit for efficiently housing variouskinds of cargoes in a small site, especially, a parking tower.

1. A cargo housing unit characterized in that, in a cargo housing unitcomprising, within an upright housing, a lift part for raising having aplurality of cargo-mounting horizontal base stands disposed atapproximately uniform distances, a lift part for lowering adjacentthereto keeping parallelism therewith and upright columnar supportingmembers which support the aforementioned horizontal base stands in ahorizontally rotatable fashion between the said two parts, theaforementioned supporting members are formed of a mobile part consistingof a plurality of cylindrical units stacked each independently from theothers in a rotatable fashion by 180 degrees within a horizontal planeand a stationary part consisting of a supporting axial body whichsupports each of the cylindrical units and serves as the axis ofrotation when the same is under rotation within a horizontal plane, theaforementioned horizontal base stand being connected to the said mobilepart with intervention of a connection member having a curved surface.2. The cargo housing unit described in claim 1 wherein the mobile partis supported by a stopper and a flange-formed plate fixed to thesupporting axial body of the stationary part.
 3. The cargo housing unitdescribed in claim 1 which is provided with the mechanism for causingfalling of the cargo-mounting horizontal base stand from the lift partfor lowering by the tare weight and with the mechanism for buffering thefalling velocity thereof by utilizing the kinetic energy of fallingthereof.
 4. The cargo housing unit described in claim 1 which is aparking tower of automobiles.